Not All Bad Contracts Are Pricey

September 23, 2012; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Adam Lind (26) at bat against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY SportsYou know A-Rod and Vernon Wells and Ryan Howard and Alfonso Soriano and Barry Zito and Jason Bay but do you recall one of the most underrated bad contracts of all?

Adam Lind the Toronto Blue Jays 1st basemen had a breakout 2009 season and if you ever saw it you would even say he was on the verge of being a star. All of the Blue Jays fan base used to chant his name, they thought with him in the lineup the Blue Jays would always have a better chance to win games.

Then one Spring Training Alex Anthopoulos came to say, Adam Lind with your bat so big won’t you a sign a “team friendly” contract extension with the Blue Jays.

Now all the Blue Jays fan base has turned on him as he’s gotten worse every year since then. Now he’s one the biggest holes on the roster and he’s holding back the team. He’s holding back the team.

It’s not often you can break down someone’s career through a Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer parody so when you can you got to take advantage. Now for the adult version of breaking down Adam Lind.

As you probably know Adam Lind is projected to be the Blue Jays 1st basemen or DH in 2013. Not because he deserves to be but because he is under contract. That’s also the reason he is even still on the team. The Blue Jays still owe him 7 million dollars so they can’t just release him. They also can’t even find a team that would want to trade for him as evidenced last season when he was put on waivers and no team even put a claim on him. That pretty much tells you how bad he has been over the last 3 years. Teams are recklessly spending huge amounts of money these days but nobody wants to spend 7 million for a former Silver Slugger. Heck, they probably wouldn’t even need to pay the whole salary because you’d have to think the Blue Jays would be willing to eat some of his salary to get him off the roster.

Unlike most bad contracts it’s hard to put the blame on the GM for Adam Lind’s contract. Alex Anthopoulos extended Lind on April 3, 2010, right after his breakout 2009 season. The Blue Jays had just traded away Roy Halladay in the offseason, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion were nobody’s at the time and the only core players the Jays had were Aaron Hill and Vernon Wells. Sure Lind only had that one great season but if he did anything resembling 2009 in 2010 he was going to get expensive in a hurry. 300 hitters with 30 home runs don’t grow on trees either so if you can get one locked up for under market value you better do it. It just didn’t work out as Lind turned into one of the worst hitters in baseball since. Even though his contract isn’t pricey it has still prevented the Blue Jays from getting rid of him and they are likely going to have to give him another chance to start in 2013.

Adam Lind’s contract may not be burning a hole in the Blue Jays pocket but its making them keep a hole in their roster.